“This morning you have testified that you received this letter from former Secretary [of the Army, Ryan D.] McCarthy on January 5th,” Senator Portman said. “So, the day before the attack on the Capitol. In that letter, did Secretary McCarthy prohibit you from deploying the National Guard’s quick reaction force without his authorization?”
“So, I have the letter in front of me,” General Walker replied. “And his letter does not. But it is the Secretary of Defense [Christopher C. Miller] says that I have to ‘use it as a last resort.’ But the Secretary of the Army told me, and it’s – I have the letter – that I could not use the quick reaction force. It would… I will just read it.”
“I withhold authority to approve deployment of the District of Columbia National Guard quick reaction force and will do so only as a last resort in response to a request from an appropriate civil authority,” General Walker read from the Secretary of the Army’s letter.
“I will require a concept of operation prior to authorizing the deployment of… a quick reaction force,” General Walker added. “Now, a quick reaction force is normally a commander’s tool to go help. Either a civilian agency, but more typically to help the National Guardsmen who are out there in need, need of assistance.”
Thus, the “quick reaction” force was deliberately kept from acting quickly to address a developing emergency at the Capitol grounds.